Parashat Shemini 2024
Dvar Torah Shemini March April 6, 2024 B’nai Brith Somerville
Good Shabbos. I am again honored to be able to bring words of Torah to you.
I dedicate this dvar torah to my brother, Robert Weinberg, of blessed memory whose yarhtzeit is this week.
Our torah portion this Shabbat is Shemini, Leviticus Chapter 9-11. Chapter 11 goes into great detail on kosher and non-kosher animals. It is helpful for understanding the background for Jewish kashrut. On Shabbat Ha Chodesh, which we have today, we also read Exodus 12:1-20 in preparation for Passover. Today, I am focusing only on Leviticus chapters 9 and 10, on the enigmatic and mysterious story of Nadav and Avihu, who offer outsider fire – Eish Zarah –
Parashat Yitro and Disability Torah
Banner is “Revelation at Mt. Sinai,” Moravian Haggadah, 1737, engraving, facsimile courtesy of Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, Chicago. Found here
In this commentary, I approach Parashat Yitro, Exodus 18:1-20:23, through the lens of disability torah. To define disability torah I refer to a conversation between Dr. Judith Plascow and Rabbi Julia Watts Belser. Dr. Plascow has been writing and speaking about Jewish feminism since the early 1970s and is the author of several works on feminist theology. Rabbi Belser is a rabbi, scholar and spiritual teacher working at the intersections of disability studies and queer feminist Jewish ethics and environmental justice.
Shemini – Strange Fire and Flaming Queers
This Dvar Torah was given at Temple Beth Israel, Waltham, MA, on March 26, 2022. It was delivered orally, as strongly emoted sermon. It is best read aloud with much feeling. Our torah portion this Shabbat is Shemini, Leviticus Chapter 9-11. Chapter 11 goes into great detail on kosher and non-kosher animals. It is helpful for understanding the background for Jewish kashrut, but will not detain us today. Instead, I am focusing on chapters 9 and 10, on the enigmatic and mysterious story of Nadab and Abihu, who offer strange fire – Eish Zarah – on the alter, and are…
How to Read the Bible (Ear Like a Hopper)
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Why being queer in shul helps me to understand our institutional racism
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When my mother died (May 29, 2014) I was present in the room, both in the hours before and the hour after. She was 89 and had lived a long life, but this death was the result of accident, not old age, not illness. My mom slipped and fell on the floor of the cafeteria in the nursing home where my father was living. At that time his Alzheimer’s was profound, and in combination with Parkinson’s had brought him to a place in life where my mother’s daily ministrations probably did not leave her feeling that she was able to…
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Those of us who have an opportunity to participate in giving sanctuary to refugees in crisis know how critical it is to provide a safe haven for a person at risk of deportation to certain physical danger. As volunteers providing round the clock witness, we are sometimes daunted when months stretch into years while our guests await relief in the courts. Yet we know that the difficulty of our task is not to be compared to the discomfort of being confined day after day in a small space, not knowing when/if release will come. Our job is to make the…